Device layer transfer with a preserved handle wafer section

ABSTRACT

Assemblies including a device layer of a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate and a replacement substrate replacing a handle wafer of the SOI substrate, and methods for transferring the device layer of the SOI substrate from the handle wafer to the replacement substrate. A device structure is formed in a first section of the handle wafer, and a second section of the handle wafer adjoining the first section of the handle wafer is removed to expose a surface of the buried dielectric layer of the silicon-on-insulator substrate. A permanent substrate is attached to the surface of the buried dielectric layer. When the permanent substrate is attached to the surface of the buried dielectric layer, the section of the handle wafer is received inside a cavity defined in the permanent substrate.

BACKGROUND

The invention relates generally to semiconductor devices and integratedcircuit fabrication and, in particular, to assemblies including a devicelayer of a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) substrate and a replacementsubstrate replacing a handle wafer of the SOI substrate, and to methodsfor transferring the device layer of the SOI substrate from the handlewafer of the SOI substrate to the replacement substrate.

Devices fabricated using semiconductor-on-insulator technologies mayexhibit certain performance improvements in comparison with comparabledevices built directly in a bulk silicon substrate. Generally, an SOIwafer includes a thin device layer of semiconductor material, a handlewafer, and a thin buried insulator layer, such as a buried oxide or BOXlayer, physically separating and electrically isolating the device layerfrom the handle wafer. Integrated circuits may be fabricated using thesemiconductor material of the device layer at the front side surface ofthe SOI wafer and possibly the semiconductor material of the handlewafer.

Wafer thinning has been driven by the need to make packages thinner toaccommodate stacking and high density packaging of chips. An SOI wafermay be thinned by removing the handle wafer from its construction and,once thinned, subjecting the backside surface to additional operations.To lend mechanical support during thinning and any additional operationsperformed after thinning, the front side surface may be adhesivelybonded to a temporary substrate. After the additional operations areperformed, a permanent substrate may be attached to the backside surfaceas a replacement for the handle wafer and the temporary substrate may beremoved from the front side surface.

Improved assemblies including a device layer of an SOI substrate and areplacement substrate for a handle wafer of the SOI substrate, andimproved methods for transferring a device layer of the SOI substratefrom the handle wafer to a replacement substrate are needed.

SUMMARY

In an embodiment of the invention, a method includes forming a devicestructure in a first section of a handle wafer of a silicon-on-insulatorsubstrate, removing a second section of the handle wafer adjoining thefirst section of the handle wafer to expose a buried dielectric layer ofthe silicon-on-insulator substrate, and attaching a permanent substrateto the surface of the buried dielectric layer. When the permanentsubstrate is attached to the buried dielectric layer, the first sectionof the handle wafer is received inside a cavity defined in the permanentsubstrate.

In an embodiment of the invention, an assembly is formed using asilicon-on-insulator substrate. The assembly includes a device layer ofthe silicon-on-insulator substrate and a buried insulator layer of thesilicon-on-insulator substrate. The buried insulator layer has a firstsurface in contact with the device layer and a second surface oppositethe first surface. The assembly includes a section of a handle wafer ofthe silicon-on-insulator substrate disposed on the second surface of theburied insulator layer, and a device structure in the section of thehandle wafer. The assembly further includes a permanent substrateattached to the buried insulator layer. The permanent substrate includesa cavity configured to receive the section of the handle wafer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate various embodiments of theinvention and, together with a general description of the inventiongiven above and the detailed description of the embodiments given below,serve to explain the embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of a substrate at aninitial fabrication stage of a processing method for forming an assemblyin accordance with an embodiment of the invention and in which theassembly is shown inverted.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the substrate portion of FIG. 1 at asubsequent fabrication stage of the processing method.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the substrate portion of FIG. 2 at asubsequent fabrication stage of the processing method and in which theassembly is shown non-inverted.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

With reference to FIG. 1 and in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention, an assembly 10 includes a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI)substrate 12 and a temporary substrate 14 that has been removablyattached to the front side of the SOI substrate 10 after formation ofdevices and wires on the SOI substrate 10. The SOI substrate 12 mayinclude a device layer 16, a buried dielectric layer 18 in the form of aburied oxide (BOX) layer, and a handle wafer 20. The device layer 16 isseparated from the handle wafer 20 by the intervening buried dielectriclayer 18 and is considerably thinner than the handle wafer 20. Theburied dielectric layer 18 has a surface 18 a in direct contact with thehandle wafer 20 and another surface 18 b in direct contact with thedevice layer 16, and these surfaces 18 a, 18 b are separated by thethickness of the buried dielectric layer 18.

The device layer 16 and the handle wafer 20 may be comprised of a singlecrystal semiconductor material, such as silicon. The device layer 16 maycontain CMOS transistors or bipolar junction transistors, passives,silicided silicon, shallow trench isolation oxide, etc. The burieddielectric layer 18 may be comprised of an electrical insulator and, inparticular, may be a buried oxide layer comprised of silicon dioxide(e.g., SiO₂). The device layer 16 is electrically isolated from thehandle wafer 20 by the buried dielectric layer 18.

Front-end-of-line (FEOL) processing is used to fabricate devicestructures of one or more integrated circuits using the device layer 16and to thereby form a chip before the temporary substrate 14 isremovably attached. The device structures may be bipolar junctiontransistors, field effect transistors, passives, and/or coplanarwaveguide (CPW) transmission lines as discussed above, and theintegrated circuits on chips formed from the assembly 10 may beconfigured for end use in high-frequency and high-power applications(e.g., power amplifiers for wireless communications systems and mobiledevices) and in high-speed logic circuits. The integrated circuits mayinclude various functional blocks, such as switches, power amplifiers,power management units, filters, etc.

In a representative embodiment, the device structures may include one ormore deep trench capacitors 22 formed in deep trenches 24 extendingthrough the device layer 16 and penetrating to a given depth, d, intothe handle wafer 20. Multiple deep trenches 24 and deep trenchcapacitors 22 may be arranged in an array to form multiple devicestructures. The deep trenches 24 may be formed by applying a hardmask,patterning the hardmask with photolithography and etching, and thenusing a reactive ion etch (RIE) process to define the deep trench. Theetching process may be conducted in a single etching step or multipleetching steps, may rely on one or more etch chemistries, and may beperformed under conditions controlled to provide the limited penetrationdepth of the deep trenches 24 into the handle wafer 20.

Each deep trench capacitor 22 may include an insulator layer formed onthe sidewalls of the respective deep trench 24 as a liner and a plugcomprised of an electrical conductor, such as doped polysilicon, thatoccupies the remaining space. The insulator layer operates as acapacitor dielectric in the deep trench capacitor 22, the plug operatesas an electrode or plate of the deep trench capacitor 22, and the handlewafer 20 adjacent to the deep trench 24 operates as another electrode orplate of the deep trench capacitor 22 and may be doped with n-type orp-type dopants to reduce the parasitic resistance.

Middle-of-line (MOL) and back-end-of-line (BEOL) processing followsfront-end-of-line processing to form a multi-level interconnectstructure, generally indicated by reference numeral 26, overlying thedevice layer 16 of the SOI substrate 12. The interconnect structure 26may be comprised of wiring in a plurality of wiring levels that suppliesconductive paths for signals, clock, power, etc. The wiring of theinterconnect structure 26 is coupled with the integrated circuits of thechip and, in particular, may be coupled with the deep trench capacitors22. Other active and passive circuit elements, such as diodes,resistors, capacitors, varactors, and inductors, may be integrated intothe interconnect structure 26.

The wiring levels may be formed by deposition, lithographic patterning,etching, and polishing techniques characteristic of damascene and/orsubtractive patterning. Candidate conductors for the wiring includemetals such as copper (Cu), aluminum (Al), aluminum copper (AlCu), andtungsten (W) combined with refractory metals such as tantalum (Ta),titanium (Ti), tantalum nitride (TaN), and titanium nitride (TiN), whichmay be deposited by chemical vapor deposition, physical vapordeposition, evaporation, or by an electrochemical process likeelectroplating or electroless plating. The wiring of the differentwiring levels is embedded in dielectric layers that may be comprised ofany suitable organic or inorganic dielectric material, such as silicondioxide, silicon nitride, hydrogen-enriched silicon oxycarbide (SiCOH),and fluorosilicate glass (FSG), that may be deposited, for example, bychemical vapor deposition.

In particular, a topmost wiring level of the interconnect structure 26may include a bond pad 28 that is accessible for establishing anexternal connection with the integrated circuits on the chip. The bondpad 28 may be comprised of copper, aluminum, or an alloy of thesemetals. The bond pad 28 may function, for example, as a powerdistribution pad coupled to either positive supply voltage (V_(DD)) orground (V_(SS)) to power the active circuitry on the chip, as aninput/output (I/O) pad for communicating signals to and from the activecircuitry on the chip, or as a dummy pad electrically isolated from theactive circuitry of the chip.

The temporary substrate 14 is removably attached to a top surface of theinterconnect structure 26 at the front side of the SOI substrate 12while the handle wafer 20 is intact and before thinning, and afterfront-end-of-line, middle-of-line, and back-end-of-line processing arecompleted. For example, the temporary substrate 14 may be adhesivelybonded by an adhesive layer 30 to the top surface of interconnectstructure 26 in order to provide the releasable or removable attachment.The temporary substrate 14 is sufficiently thick to allow for mechanicalhandling when the thickness of the handle wafer 20 is reduced in asubsequent fabrication stage in order to thin the SOI substrate 12 atits backside. The temporary substrate 14 may be comprised of quartz,glass, or a different material. The adhesive layer 30 may be comprisedof a polymer adhesive, such as a polyimide adhesive or, morespecifically, a HD3007 polyimide adhesive. The adhesive strength of theadhesive layer 30 may be selected such that the temporary substrate 14is readily releasable from its attachment to the top surface of theinterconnect structure 26 in a subsequent debonding operation using, forexample, laser or mechanical release.

The handle wafer 20 is partially removed from its backside toward theinterface with the buried dielectric layer 18 at surface 18 a throughthinning by grinding, etching, and/or polishing. The thinning process iscontrolled to retain a residual thickness, t, of the handle wafer 20 sothat the back surface 18 a of the buried dielectric layer 18 remainscompletely covered at the conclusion of the thinning. The residualthickness of the handle wafer 20 is selected to be greater than thepenetration depth of the deep trenches 24 for the deep trench capacitors22 into the handle wafer 20. In an embodiment, the residual thickness ofthe handle wafer 20 may be 5 μm to 20 μm greater than the penetrationdepth of the deep trenches 24 for the deep trench capacitors 22 into thehandle wafer 20. As a result, the integrity of the deep trenches 24 isnot compromised by the thinning process, and the deep trench capacitors22 and deep trenches 24 are intact and undisturbed after the processthinning the handle wafer 20 is completed.

With reference to FIG. 2 in which like reference numerals refer to likefeatures in FIG. 1 and at a subsequent fabrication stage of theprocessing method, the residual thickness of the handle wafer 20 islithographically patterned and etched to remove the semiconductormaterial of the handle wafer 20 in locations other than the locationthat includes the deep trenches 24. The result is a preserved section 21of the handle wafer 20 that is retained at the location of the deeptrenches 24. The preserved section 21 of the handle wafer 20 includesside surfaces 23 extending from a top surface 25 to the surface 18 a ofthe buried dielectric layer 18.

The preserved section 21 of the handle wafer 20 has a non-zero thicknessthat is equal to the thickness of the handle wafer 20 after thinning,and has a width, W1, and a length in a plane normal to the thickness.The handle wafer 20 has a zero thickness adjacent to the preservedsection 21 of the handle wafer 20 that results in the buried dielectriclayer 18 being exposed. This zero thickness region of the handle wafer20 may eliminate coupling to the substrate from devices such as SOIswitches, which may improve switch properties such as insertion loss andlinearity.

To pattern the residual thickness of the handle wafer 20, a mask layercomprised of a light-sensitive material, such as a photoresist, may beapplied by a spin coating process, pre-baked, exposed to light projectedthrough a photomask, baked after exposure, and developed with a chemicaldeveloper to define an etch mask covering the preserved section 21 ofthe handle wafer 20. An etching process is used, with the mask layerpresent, to form the preserved section 21 of the handle wafer 20 byremoving the unmasked sections of the handle wafer 20 and stopping onthe material of the buried dielectric layer 18. The etching process maybe conducted in a single etching step or multiple etching steps, mayrely on one or more etch chemistries, may use dry plasma or wet etchprocesses, and may be performed under conditions controlled to providethe limited penetration depth into the SOI substrate 12. Examples ofetch processes for a silicon handle wafer 20 are sulfurhexafluoride-based plasma etching or potassium hydroxide-based wetsilicon etching.

The unmasked sections of the handle wafer 20 may be removed selective tothe buried dielectric layer 18 so that the buried dielectric layer 18remains intact after the handle wafer 20 is removed. As used herein, theterm “selective” in reference to a material removal process (e.g.,etching) denotes that, with an appropriate etchant choice, the materialremoval rate for the targeted material is higher than the removal ratefor at least another material exposed to the material removal process.

The mask layer may be removed after preserved section 21 of the handlewafer 20 is defined by the etching process. If comprised of aphotoresist, the mask layer may be removed by ashing or solventstripping, followed by a conventional cleaning process.

A permanent substrate 32 is attached to the buried dielectric layer 18to create an intermediate assembly 34 that still includes the temporarysubstrate 14. In particular, the back surface 18 a of the burieddielectric layer 18 is placed in contact with a top surface 32 a of thepermanent substrate 32, and these surfaces 18 a, 32 a are subsequentlybonded together by, for example, a thermal process (e.g., oxide bonding)or with an adhesive layer, such as HD3007 polyimide. In thisintermediate assembly, the device layer 16, the buried dielectric layer18, and the interconnect structure 26 are positioned between thetemporary substrate 14 and the permanent substrate 32. When the burieddielectric layer 18 of the SOI substrate 12 and the permanent substrate32 are bonded together, the bonded surfaces 18 a, 32 a are co-planar orsubstantially coplanar.

In various embodiments, the permanent substrate 32 may be an engineeredhigh-resistance wafer comprised of high-resistance silicon, sapphire,quartz, silica glass, alumina, etc. The handle wafer 20, which may be aninexpensive substrate (e.g., a common silicon wafer), is present duringprocessing to fabricate the integrated circuits of the chip and is thenreplaced by the permanent substrate 32 to provide a final assembly thatmay be expected to exhibit improved performance metrics.

The permanent substrate 32 includes a cavity 36 that is recessedrelative to the surface 32 a that is attached to the surface 18 a of theburied dielectric layer 18. The cavity 36 is strategically positioned tobe aligned with the preserved section 21 of the handle wafer 20containing the deep trench capacitors 22 at assembly time. The cavity 36has a surface 37 that is geometrically shaped to reflect the surfaces23, 25 of the preserved section 21 of the handle wafer 20. The cavity 36has a depth, D, that is greater than the thickness of the thinned handlewafer 20 and, in particular, the thickness of the preserved section 21of the handle wafer 20. The cavity 36 has a width, W2 (and length) thatis greater than the width (and length) of the preserved section 21 ofthe handle wafer 20.

In the representative embodiment, the permanent substrate 32 may beattached to the buried dielectric layer 18 with an adhesive layer 35.The dimensions of the cavity 36 may provide a clearance gap between thepreserved section 21 of the handle wafer 20 to allow for the thicknessof the adhesive layer 35 and placement tolerance. In an embodiment, thedepth of the cavity 36 may be 4 μm to 8 μm greater than the residualthickness of the preserved section 21 of the handle wafer 20, and thewidth of the cavity 36 may be less than or equal to 30 μm greater thanthe width of the preserved section 21 of the handle wafer 20 to allowfor placement tolerance during assembly and for the adhesive layer 35.

In an alternative embodiment, the permanent substrate 32 may be attachedto the buried dielectric layer 18 without the use of adhesive. In thisinstance, the dimensions of the cavity 36 may be smaller so that theclearance with the preserved section 21 of the handle wafer is reducedor eliminated. In a specific embodiment, the size of the cavity 36 maybe equal to, or slightly larger than, the size of the preserved section21 of the handle wafer 20.

A portion of the permanent substrate 32 is selectively removed toaccommodate the preserved section 21 that protrudes from the surface 18a of the buried dielectric layer 18 upon which the device structure isformed. To form the cavity 36, a mask layer may be applied to thesurface of the permanent substrate 32 to be subsequently coupled withthe buried dielectric layer 18 and patterned with photolithography. Tothat end, the mask layer may comprise a light-sensitive material, suchas a photoresist, that is applied by a spin coating process, pre-baked,exposed to light projected through a photomask, baked after exposure,and developed with a chemical developer to define an etch mask with anopening at the intended location for the cavity 36. The dimensions ofthe opening are selected to provide the width and length needed for thecavity 36. An etching process is used, with the mask layer present, toform the cavity 36. The etching process may be conducted in a singleetching step or multiple etching steps, may rely on one or more etchchemistries, and may be performed under conditions controlled to providea limited penetration depth into the permanent substrate 32. The masklayer may be removed after the cavity 36 is formed by the etchingprocess. If comprised of a photoresist, the mask layer may be removed byashing or solvent stripping, followed by a conventional cleaningprocess.

With reference to FIG. 3 in which like reference numerals refer to likefeatures in FIG. 2 and at a subsequent fabrication stage of theprocessing method, the temporary substrate 14 is subsequently removedwithout disturbing the bond between the permanent substrate 32 and theburied dielectric layer 18 to provide a final assembly 38. For example,the intermediate assembly 34 may be placed on a heated chuck to reducethe strength of the adhesive bond provided by the adhesive layer 30 sothat the temporary substrate 14 can be easily removed with appliedforce. Alternatively, the adhesive layer 30 may be laser releasedfollowed by temporary substrate 14 removal and then an optional wet orplasma clean to remove residual adhesive.

The temporary substrate 14 functions to facilitate the transfer of theintegrated circuits in and on the device layer 16 to the permanentsubstrate 32. The permanent substrate 32 in the final assembly replacesthe handle wafer 20 of the SOI substrate 12 in the initial assembly 10.A connect structure 40, such as solder bump, copper pillar, wirebond, orwafer level chip scale package may be formed on the bond pad 28,followed by a backside grind, dicing, and packaging of the chip.

In an alternative embodiment, the type of device structure utilizing thepreserved section 21 of the handle wafer 20 may differ from therepresentative deep trench capacitors 22. For example, the type ofdevice structure may comprise one or more resistors, one or morecapacitors, one or more transistors, one or more inductors, etc. In aspecific alternative embodiment, the device structure may be a bipolarjunction transistor with a collector and sub-collector formed in thehandle wafer 20. In addition, the construction may be replicated toinclude multiple preserved sections like preserved section 21 andmultiple cavities like cavity 36 that are registered with the preservedsections.

Deep trench capacitors 22 are commonly used in SOI technologies. Exceptfor section 21 (and other similar preserved sections), the removal ofthe handle wafer 20 by backside thinning exposes the surface 18 a of theburied dielectric layer 18. By preserving the section 21 followingbackside thinning of the handle wafer 20 that exposes the remainder ofthe buried dielectric layer 18, embodiments of the invention promote theintegration of SOI CMOS devices with deep trench capacitors 22 on apermanent substrate 32 characterized by engineered properties. Thisallows for the use of deep trench capacitors and low RF loss substrateson the same wafer or chip.

References herein to terms such as “vertical”, “horizontal”, etc. aremade by way of example, and not by way of limitation, to establish aframe of reference. The term “horizontal” as used herein is defined as aplane parallel to a conventional plane of a semiconductor substrate,regardless of its actual three-dimensional spatial orientation. Theterms “vertical” and “normal” refers to a direction perpendicular to thehorizontal, as just defined. The term “lateral” refers to a dimensionwithin the horizontal plane.

A feature may be “connected” or “coupled” to or with another element maybe directly connected or coupled to the other element or, instead, oneor more intervening elements may be present. A feature may be “directlyconnected” or “directly coupled” to another element if interveningelements are absent. A feature may be “indirectly connected” or“indirectly coupled” to another element if at least one interveningelement is present.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

1. A method comprising: forming a device structure in a first section ofa handle wafer of a silicon-on-insulator substrate; removing a secondsection of the handle wafer adjoining the first section of the handlewafer to expose a surface of a buried dielectric layer of thesilicon-on-insulator substrate; attaching a permanent substrate to thesurface of the buried dielectric layer; and receiving the first sectionof the handle wafer inside a cavity defined in the permanent substratewhen the permanent substrate is attached to the buried dielectric layer.2. The method of claim 1 wherein the cavity is dimensioned andpositioned to receive the first section of the handle wafer, thepermanent substrate has a surface attached to the surface of the burieddielectric layer, and the surface of the buried dielectric layer iscoplanar with the surface of the permanent substrate when the permanentsubstrate is attached to the surface of the buried dielectric layer. 3.The method of claim 1 wherein the device structure is formed in thefirst section of the handle wafer before the second section of thehandle wafer is removed.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the devicestructure is formed in the first section of the handle wafer before thepermanent substrate is attached.
 5. The method of claim 1 whereinattaching the permanent substrate to the buried dielectric layercomprises: adhesively bonding the permanent substrate to the burieddielectric layer with an adhesive layer, wherein the cavity isdimensioned and positioned to receive the first section of the handlewafer with a portion of the adhesive layer between the first section andthe permanent substrate.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the devicestructure is formed at least partially in a device layer of thesilicon-on-insulator substrate.
 7. The method of claim 1 wherein formingthe device structure that uses the handle wafer comprises: forming oneor more deep trenches extending through a device layer of thesilicon-on-insulator substrate and the buried dielectric layer into thehandle wafer, wherein a portion of the first section of the handle waferis disposed between the one or more deep trenches and the permanentsubstrate.
 8. The method of claim 7 further comprising: forming one ormore deep trench capacitors using the one or more deep trenches, whereinthe one or more deep trench capacitors comprise the device structure. 9.The method of claim 1 further comprising: before the second section ofthe handle wafer is removed, attaching a temporary substrate to thesilicon-on-insulator substrate; and after the second section of thehandle wafer is removed, removing the temporary substrate from thesilicon-on-insulator substrate, wherein the temporary substrate, whenattached to the silicon-on-insulator substrate, is separated by theburied dielectric layer from the permanent substrate.
 10. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising: applying an etch mask to the permanentsubstrate with an opening at a location for the cavity; and etching thecavity in the permanent substrate.
 11. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising: thinning the handle wafer; after the handle wafer isthinned, applying an etch mask covering the first section of the handlewafer; and etching the handle wafer to remove the second section of thehandle wafer.
 12. The method of claim 1 wherein the permanent substratehas a surface attached to the surface of the buried dielectric layer,and the surface of the buried dielectric layer is coplanar with thesurface of the permanent substrate when the permanent substrate isattached to the surface of the buried dielectric layer. 13-20.(canceled)